Quirks
by whatamItyping
Summary: Florence Sich's first experience with her friend Al's 'other side' is a real doozy. An Al and Florence broship fic. Not really spoilerly. If anything it's only up to the end of case 2?


Florence Sichs only personally saw 'the dark side' of her friend Al once. Once was all she needed. The day proceeded as normal; Alfendi had pinpointed the killer of a case and asked her to bring a piece of damning evidence down to the office he had dubbed 'The Mystery Room'. So, trusty IV in tow, she briskly made her through the twisting hallways of Scottland yard to deliver the evidence. Perhaps, if she was lucky, she could hang back and catch him talking to the culprit. A wry smile gently tugged at her lips. That Al sure knew how to corner a crook; the inspector would usually have them confessing before the lawyers even arrived, and the scene was quite a show to those who were lucky enough to watch.

Unfortunately, that day her luck ran out.

"Hey, Al! Alfendi?" Florence coughed out before sneezing, knocking on the door once before letting herself in. She sniffed, damn allergies. This place was a breeding ground for dust. Scanning the room unimpressed, Florence made a mental note to rag on him about the wild mess the room had dissolved into. The inspector would never clean it otherwise. Suddenly the sound of voices caught her ear. No way, had he started already without confirming the results? That wasn't like Al at all. Confused, she shuffled her way in the direction of the hubbub. The guy Layton was after must've shown up early. Finally she found them, and then immediately wished she hadn't.

"You're treading awfully close to insulting my intelligence, Mr. Teene," Alfendi snarled, staring down the man across from him, "You should stop while you're ahead, and still have yours!" The scientist flinched at the blatant threat, and any words that announced her presence died on her lips. Al looked terrible. His hair was extremely disheveled, falling in his face instead of being carefully swept to the sides of his face like normal. Al's usually calm and placated gaze had transformed into a sharp unfriendly one, his golden eyes shining ferociously, full of contempt. Meanwhile the subject of his accusations and threats, Mr. Gill 'O Teene, seemed to be dripping with sweat and fear. Just what was going on here?

"I-I never… Threatening a completely innocent man," the suspect managed, trying to save face, "Your atrocity knows no bounds, Layton-" The inspector's chilling laugh cut him off.

"Innocent? Hardly… Every word that spills out of that blubbering mouth of yours just digs your grave that much deeper. I can picture it now; your form high on the euphoria from playing god. This was scarcely your first time spilling blood I'm sure. It was like a siren's call wasn't it pulling off such elaborate breathtaking deaths?" The smile on the inspector's face could've made the toughest veteran on the force shudder. "Except this time you got too careless, your clumsy attempt at diverting attention merely put you squarely on the radar instead!"

"I-I have no idea of what you're talking about! You're insane!" Al merely tsked, clearly disgusted with Mr. O' Teene's desperate rebuttal.

"Sichs!" Florence nearly jumped out of her chair. Apparently her appearance had not gone unnoticed by the crazed man after all. Her stomach lurched, lucky for her. "Did you run the test I asked for?" His eyes cut over to her as she gulped and nodded. "and the results?"

"T-they were positive like you thought, Al. Here's the report." Cautiously drawing closer to friend gone bonkers, Florence flinched while he snatched them out of her hand. Meekly she withdrew, silently watching Alfendi Layton using the evidence to rip apart Teene's albi and excuses one by one. Mentally she decided that she preferred the Old Al's calmer way of cornering the culprit, and, to her relief, he appeared shortly after the suspect started hysterically confessing.

Later, after Mr. O' Teene slunk out of the office handcuffed to be detained, Al turned to her. His exhaustion nowhere near hidden, the lack of color in his face made him seem more like a ghost than a person. Clearly whatever that affair was, it tired him greatly. She almost had enough of her nerves left to be worried for him, almost.

"I'm… sorry you had to see that Florence. I apologize if I alarmed you in anyway," that was an understatement, "That hasn't happened in months. I thought… never mind. I hope it didn't shake you too badly." The scientist sighed. So this wasn't a one-time deal was it? Quietly she observed the apologetic Al in front of her. Florence's mind was made up.

"I'm fine, Alfendi," she sighed, "Every genius has their quirks right? I more or less figured yours was mess making but…" Shrugging her shoulders, she offered her friend a small smile. "Figures you'd have something bigger up your sleeves. Just don't expect me to stick around for too long when it happens. Besides we really need to set it up so you get results quicker anyway, if they're going to get the jump on you like that. I'll ask about setting up a phone line between her and the lab." The look on Al's face was pure relief.

"That'd probably be best, and thank you."

"No problem Al, and go home already. You look worse than me on a bad day." He cracked an incredulous smile and they both started laughing. Regardless of what exactly was wrong with the inspector's head, she figured, this could still work out just fine.


End file.
